Give Thanks...I'm BACK!

Well hello there, dear friends!  A thousand apologies for the almost solid year disappearance, but you know how things go.  A few very big things have happened to me, most notably that I have returned to my roots and am no longer a Yankee in the South, but never fear!  Confessions of a Yankee Baker will still be chock full of delicious recipes and adorable crayon sketches.

It's Thanksgiving here today, but Yankee Momma had to work, so instead of stressing all day cooking a dinner she may or may not be home in time to enjoy, I made the Yankee Parentals a Thanksgiving brunch.  In honour of the day we celebrate the things we are most happy to have in our lives, I present a couple recipes I made this morning that you can use and be thankful for because they are delicious.


Pumpkin Muffins

Yes, I know what you're thinking (if you read last year's October posts): pumpkin?  Really?  Well, the nice thing about taking an 11 month hiatus from your blog is that you have plenty of time to repair your relationship with the big orange gourd.  We're friends now.  It's cool.

Preheat your oven to 400.  If your muffin tin is not nonstick, spray it to make it so.  Melt a stick of butter and set it aside to cool.  Soak about 1/3 cup sultanas in hot water till you're ready for them (patience, grasshoppers).  In a large bowl,  whisk together 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/8 teaspoon allspice, 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  In a separate bowl, blend together your melted butter, 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 cup pure pumpkin, 1/3 cup buttermilk (or, more likely, 1/3 cup milk [2% or higher] and 1 teaspoon white vinegar stirred together--let it sit 5 minutes before using) and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Add your wet ingredients to your dry and mix till just combined.  Now it's time for your sultanas-drain them and chuck them in the mix.  Spoon your mess into your muffin tin and bake about 20 minutes (use the toothpick test to ensure they're done).  These delightful little fellows will certainly help mend any residual rifts between you and pumpkins, I promise.

I'm glad we're friends again, pumpkin.

Fluffy Fruit Salad

This next recipe is a staple for Yankee Baker's family, usually at Thanksgiving, though we've started doing it for Christmas since my sister and I have been scattered about the country for the last few years.  We always called it Waldorf salad till my grandmother was with us for Turkey Day one year and informed us that proper Waldorf salad involves celery, which is gross, so apparently this isn't actually Waldorf salad.  I think some people probably call this ambrosia, but I have decided to title it "Fluffy Fruit Salad" because alliteration.

There are no measurements involved--go wild!  Make as much or as little as you want, but I encourage making a lot because it is flippin' delicious and you will want to eat loads of it.  Basically, you toss some red delicious apples, red grapes, chunk pineapple, chopped walnuts and mini marshmallows in a bowl.  Then throw in some sour cream and whipped cream in a roughly 50/50 ratio and mix it up real good.  Ta-da!  Delicious.
 

Recipe for scrumptious.

Yankee Dog wishes everyone out there on the interwebs a very happy Thanksgiving!

The 13 Days of Pumpkin: In Which I Discover My Piping Skills are Terrible

Hello again!  Tonight we continue on the birthday theme from Friday, celebrating with pumpkin cupcakes!  And this recipe comes with a bonus recipe for applesauce, which is a delicious and easy and seasonally appropriate thing to make this time of year (and let's be honest, a nice break from pumpkins at this point).

This picture is getting quite the workout.

Let's start with the applesauce.  I prefer making applesauce with McIntosh apples, but there weren't any last time I went to Trader Joe's (apparently the weird weather this spring was rough on this year's apple crops; they're already predicting higher prices for apples, so I suppose it follows that there may be a shortage of certain varieties--though I certainly hope I won't be entirely without my Mackies!) so I had to settle for honeycrisps, which have a bit of tartness like a McIntosh but are much tinier.  If you've got tiny apples, use about 8 of them; about 6 if you've got bigger ones.  You can peel your apples at the start or, if you're feeling particularly adventuresome, you can fish them out after the sauce is done.  Slice and core your apples and toss them in a large pot.  Throw in about 3/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup brown sugar and a pinch or two of ground cinnamon.  Set it on the stove over medium heat to simmer 15-20 minutes, then mash the apples and voila!  Throw the sauce in a mason jar while it's still warm and store in the fridge.

A recipe for delicious!

Hokay.  So.  CUPCAKES.  Start by throwing 24 paper liners into your cupcake tins.  Toss half a Golden Oreo (the creamed side) into each liner.  In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup applesauce, 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla with a whisk.  Add 1 1/2 cups white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar and stir a few minutes till well blended.  Then add 1 can pumpkin.  In a separate bowl, stir together 2 3/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Add your dry ingredients to your wet and stir till just blended.  Fill your cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way full (I found the 1/2 cup measuring cup worked nicely for this) and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow the cupcakes to cool completely, then you can frost them. 

To make the frosting, whip 1 pint heavy whipping cream till stiff peaks form (if you're doing this by hand, I recommend doing this in halvsies, or you'll likely end up with carpal tunnel).  Then blend in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1 cup confectioner's sugar.  If you don't have the swanky proper icing bag and fancy pants tips, just spoon the frosting into a gallon Ziploc bag and give a corner a snip and it does the job just fine.  Dress up your tastycakes with a little sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon.  Aren't they pretty!  (They are, trust me.  I sent a picture to my parents today, they'll corroborate.  And once I fix the scanner, you'll see too!)

The icing is white in real life.  White crayon sadly doesn't show up real well on white paper.